With the ever increasing number of communication devices or user equipment (UEs) connected to cellular networks, also the amount of traffic on radio link of cellular networks is expected to grow further. In particular, with respect to machine type communication (MTC), it is possible that—while the overall traffic and number of devices increase—the amount of traffic per device decreases.
An MTC device is typically a device with a low to moderate requirement on data traffic volumes and loose latency requirements. Additionally, communication employing MTC devices should achieve low complexity and low costs. Further, energy consumption of an MTC device should be comparably low in order to allow battery-powered devices to function for a comparably long duration: The battery life should be sufficiently long. Further, interference mitigation is within the focus of networks where a large number, up to billions, of MTC devices are connected (Internet of Things). Also, for MTC devices the system coverage should be comparably high.
In particular in such scenarios, employing shared reoccurring resources on the radio link is a viable option to handle the increasing traffic. Typically, the shared reoccurring resources are prospectively allocated to a plurality of communication devices connected to the cellular network and are persistent for a certain period of time.
However, typically employing shared resources causes an increased likelihood of collisions between multiple devices trying to send at the same moment in time. Collision can increase latency of transmission, increase a need for control signaling, and can, therefore, reduce the overall user experience and reduce the system/network capacity.